A recent poll found that 77% of Americans think Joe Biden is too old to be effective if re-elected. Joe Scarborough recently let the cat out of the bag that every conversation he has about Biden is about his age.
So now, it looks like it's time to remedy that, to turn the tables, and attack Trump on his own supposed issues of mental acuity.
And thus it was that on today's Morning Joe, shameless Biden toady Joe Scarborough actually suggested that Trump has "dementia."
"If you look at what happened last weekend, Willie, where you looked at him and he just got lost, he just blanked, and he couldn't even [laughs] remember, one, who he was running against in 2024 . . . You know, we've all been around people with dementia, people getting older, people forgetting things."
Scarborough's mention of "what happened last weekend" was a reference to remarks Trump made last Friday to a Republican group in which he appeared to suggest he was triumphing in early polls against Obama, not Biden, and that Biden could lead us into "World War II."
Scarborough repeatedly cited yesterday's editorial by the Wall Street Journal editorial board entitled "Why Is Donald Trump Afraid to Debate?" In addition to suggesting other candidates might question him on his policies on trade, on COVID, and so on, the Journal suggests this answer to its own question: "Is he worried he’d look his age at 77 next to younger candidates?" Implied in Scarborough's reliance on the WSJ is the notion that as a conservative editorial page, its questioning of Trump's age has more credibility than if it came from a liberal source.
But Scarborough conveniently ignored that the Journal has been quite critical of Trump in the Biden years — so much so The New Republic claims it's "desperate" in its search for a different Republican candidate.
The attempt by the Biden campaign and its liberal-media minions to bring Trump's mental fitness into question is a double-edged sword. If this election comes down to a question of who is the more physically and mentally capable candidate, it's likely that Biden would lose -- bigly.
Note: Scarborough is the master of false modesty. His typical shtick is to describe himself as "a simple country lawyer." In a variation on that, commenting on his own analysis, Scarborough said "I'm not good at this politics thing."
Joe Scarborough implying that Donald Trump has "dementia" was sponsored in part by Booking.com, GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the Shingrix vaccine, Amazon, Liberty Mutual, ADT, and Google.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
9/21/23
6:06 am EDTJONATHAN LEMIRE: It does seem like Donald Trump, maybe it's an effort not to say something incriminating, although he does that anyway, it doesn't seem like he's going to participate [in the Republican primary debates.] He feels like he can do a glide path to the nomination, and start thinking about a general election stance, with issues like abortion and visiting those auto workers next week.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, not only that, the Wall Street Journal suggests -- I mean, and if you look at what happened last weekend, Willie, where you looked at him and he just got lost, he just blanked, and he couldn't even [laughs] remember, one, who he was running against in 2024, and then -- and I know it was almost eight years ago, it was a long time ago if you're.
You know, we've all been around people with dementia, people getting older, people forgetting things.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Just not knowing history.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, it was his history. So, if, if if his mind wasn't jumbled at that moment, he would have remembered he ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016. But he couldn't remember who he ran against in 2016, so he just slid Obama in there. And he couldn't remember who he wa srunning against in 2024. So what he did, he just slid Obama's name in there. Just kind of a catch-all.
So, I guess if you start your career with a racist conspiracy theory about Obama, he's got that back there somewhere. Do he's living somewhere in 2011. So, I'll just say Obama's name. People seem to like that.
And the Wall Street Journal editorial page actually suggests about as much. That maybe he's afraid he's just too old to do this. They, they write, "Why is Mr. Trump afraid to confront other Republicans without the aid of a teleprompter? Is he worried he'd look his age at 77 next to younger candidates?"
And you know what? I know, for Donald, that line hurts. Because he's seen the video of how addled he looked, and how confused he looked, and how shaken he looked last weekend, when he couldn't even remember who he was running against.
And now, you've got the Wall Street Journal editorial page saying, hey, I guess this guy is, you know, he's afraid he can't do this without a teleprompter, and he's too old. Which I guess starts raising questions, Willie, like, is this really who the Republicans -- if, if, if, if they don't look at the four indictments and the stealing of the nuclear secrets, and the stealing of war plans, and the attempt to steal an election.
Like, maybe the Wall Street Journal's suggesting, and I think they are, hey, there's a reason Donald Trump is afraid to debate. Is it because he's afraid he's getting too old, and he may lose his mind like he did that night on the stage when he thought he was running against Barack Obama.
I mean, if you're debating somebody, and you don't even know who you're running against in the general election, that could cause a problem. I'm not good at this politics thing, but that could cause a problem!
